UCLA baseball players Roch Cholowsky and Mulivai Levu have been named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List by USA Baseball. This award highlights the top amateur baseball players in the country.
With these selections, UCLA now has 19 all-time appearances on the preseason watch list, with Cody Schrier being the most recent before this year in 2023. The university is among 13 schools to have more than one player on this year’s list.
The watch list includes seven athletes who were semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award in 2025, such as Drew Burress from Georgia Tech, Daniel Cuvet from Miami, Justin Lebron from Alabama, Kade Lewis from Wake Forest, Jack Ohman from Yale, Dylan Volantis from Texas, and Roch Cholowsky of UCLA.
Cholowsky comes into the new season after a notable performance last year. He was named both Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year—the first UCLA player to win both awards in a single season and the first since 1998 to earn conference player of the year honors. Nationally, he won the Brooks Wallace Award for best shortstop, received an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove, and was recognized as Perfect Game’s National Player of the Year.
Levu made his mark as one of the top run producers in his conference during 2025. The junior first baseman earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors and finished second in the nation with 85 RBIs while maintaining a .320 batting average and hitting 12 home runs. He also started every game for UCLA and committed only one error over 569 chances at first base, earning him an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove.
Important dates for this year’s Golden Spikes Award include: April 2 for the midseason watch list announcement; May 14 for semifinalists; June 10 for finalists; and June 29 when the winner will be revealed during a presentation on MLB Network. Fans will be able to vote online after semifinalists are announced to help decide who advances to become finalists or wins the award through GoldenSpikesAward.com.
For updates about this year’s award process or nominees, information can be found at GoldenSpikesAward.com or by following @USAGoldenSpikes on Instagram and Twitter/X.
